Port Elizabeth (South Africa), Jan 19 (IANS) Ivan Perisic’s hat-trick helped German club Wolfsburg come from behind to beat South African outfit Chippa United FC 4-3 in a friendly football match.
VfL Wolfsburg made it two wins out of two in South Africa as Dieter Hecking’s side came from 1-3 down to beat Chippa United 4-3 Sunday night, reports Xinhua.
Hecking named Chinese Zhang Xizhe in his starting lineup for the first time here, but the Wolves looked jaded in the opening stages and fell behind after 25 minutes when Robin Knoche misjudged a long ball forward, allowing George Akapabio to slot home at the near post.
Nicklas Bendtner missed a good chance to level matters before the break, but the Dane could only guide his header over the crossbar from point-blank range.
Chippa doubled their lead with their first attack of the second half, Akapabio dribbling past three VfL defenders before drilling a low shot past Diego Benaglio into the bottom corner.
Perisic then pulled a goal back for Hecking’s team with a sublime free-kick, but Siyabulela Shai soon restored Chippa’s two-goal advantage.
However, Wolfsburg never gave up at the Wolfson Stadium, three goals in the last seven minutes earning the Bundesliga side a dramatic late victory.
Perisic’s second strike of the game gave the visitors hope, before youngster Sebastian Stolze restored parity just three minutes from time. Perisic then rounded off a spectacular second-half display with a stoppage-time winner for Wolfsburg.
